JP2002176021A - Method and equipment for ultrasonic cleaning - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem raised by cleaning equipment using a cleaning tank that contaminants deposited on an object to be cleaned redeposit on the object, because the object is dipped in a cleaning liquid, and another problem raised by another cleaning equipment using a nozzle 1 that the used quantity of a cleaning liquid 4 becomes larger. SOLUTION: An ultrasonic vibrator 7 is fitted to the bottom face of an ultrasonic wave generating section 6 and the vibrator 7 is electrically connected to a connector 9 fitted to the top face of the section 6 through an electrode lead wire 8. The oscillated output of an ultrasonic oscillator 11 is supplied to the connector 9 through a lead wire 10. In addition, the object 12 to be cleaned, such as the wafer, etc., is held in a state where the object 12 is faced to the ultrasonic vibrator 7 of the ultrasonic wave generating section 6 at a very short interval and nozzles 14 which supply the cleaning liquid fed from a cleaning liquid supplying device 13 are fitted to both sides of the generating section 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus for cleaning by supplying a cleaning liquid to a minute gap between an ultrasonic vibrator and an object to be cleaned.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a conventional ultrasonic cleaning apparatus, an ultrasonic vibrator is mounted on a vibration plate at the bottom of a cleaning tank, and when an oscillation output is applied from a power source to the ultrasonic vibrator, the ultrasonic vibrator has a unique ultrasonic vibrator. Since the ultrasonic waves of the frequency are generated, the ultrasonic waves are irradiated to the cleaning liquid in the cleaning tank, thereby generating cavitation in the cleaning liquid, and the cavitation is used to wash the object to be cleaned in the cleaning liquid. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 6, the cleaning liquid is supplied into the nozzle 1 from the cleaning liquid supply pipe 2 attached to the nozzle 1, and the cleaning liquid is supplied from the ultrasonic oscillator to the ultrasonic vibrator in the nozzle 1 via the lead wire 3. By supplying the oscillation output, the cleaning liquid 4 is supplied from the nozzle 1 onto the cleaning object 5 such as a moving semiconductor wafer, and the ultrasonic wave from the ultrasonic vibrator is put on the cleaning liquid 4 to be cleaned. Thing 3 Cleaning apparatus has been proposed which is adapted to wash irradiating the.

[0003]

However, in such an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus using a cleaning tank, there is a disadvantage that the object to be cleaned is immersed in the cleaning liquid, so that the dirt adheres again. Further, in the cleaning apparatus using the nozzle 1, there is a problem that the amount of the cleaning liquid 4 is increased.

[0004]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a micro gap provided between an ultrasonic vibrator and an object to be cleaned, and a cleaning liquid is supplied to the micro gap so that an ultrasonic wave is generated from the ultrasonic vibrator. Is an ultrasonic cleaning method of irradiating the object to be cleaned with an ultrasonic generator, and an ultrasonic generator mounted on one side of the ultrasonic generator, and a surface of the ultrasonic generator that is provided with the ultrasonic vibrator. An object to be cleaned provided with a minute gap, and an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus provided with a nozzle for supplying a cleaning liquid between the object to be cleaned and the ultrasonic vibrator on at least one side of the ultrasonic generator, Further, the nozzle may be mounted on both sides of the ultrasonic generator, the outlet of the nozzle may be provided widely along the side of the ultrasonic generator, or the nozzle may be provided with the ultrasonic generator. A supply port wide by the length of the vibrator is provided and the ultrasonic generator It may be mounted in the vicinity of at least one side of the ultrasonic vibrator.

[0005]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the present invention, a minute gap is provided between an ultrasonic oscillator of an ultrasonic generator and an object to be cleaned and supported, and a cleaning liquid is supplied to the minute gap to move the object to be cleaned. While irradiating the object to be cleaned with ultrasonic waves from the ultrasonic vibrator while applying ultrasonic waves to the object to be cleaned through the cleaning liquid held in the minute gap, the surface of the object to be cleaned is cleaned with a small amount of cleaning liquid,
Cleaning can be performed even if the ultrasonic output is small.

[0006]

FIG. 1 is a structural view of an ultrasonic cleaning tank according to one embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an ultrasonic generator of FIG. 1, and FIG.
The ultrasonic vibrator 7 is mounted on the lower surface of the ultrasonic generator 6, and the ultrasonic vibrator 7 is connected to a connector 9 mounted on the upper part of the ultrasonic generator 6 by an electrode lead wire 8. The connector 9 is electrically connected, and an oscillating output is supplied from the ultrasonic oscillator 11 to the connector 9 via the cable 10.
An object to be cleaned 12, such as a semiconductor wafer, is held with a minute gap in opposition to the ultrasonic transducer 7 of the ultrasonic generator 6,
Nozzles 14 for supplying a cleaning liquid from a cleaning liquid supply device 13 are mounted on both sides of the ultrasonic generator 6.

In the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to the present embodiment, the cleaning liquid is supplied from the nozzle 14 between the ultrasonic vibrator 7 of the ultrasonic generator 6 and the object 12 to be cleaned held through a small gap. When the cleaning liquid is supplied, the cleaning liquid is supplied to the entire lower surface of the ultrasonic vibrator 7 by the surface tension.
When an oscillation output is applied from the ultrasonic oscillator 11 to the ultrasonic vibrator 7 while moving the ultrasonic wave, the ultrasonic waves emitted from the ultrasonic vibrator 7 are held in the minute gap between the ultrasonic vibrator 7 and the object 12 to be cleaned. Since the surface of the object to be cleaned 12 is irradiated through the cleaning liquid thus applied, the surface of the object to be cleaned 12 can be cleaned with ultrasonic waves and the cleaning liquid.

As described above, in the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to the present embodiment, the cleaning liquid may be supplied to the minute gap between the ultrasonic generator 6 and the object 12 to be cleaned. In addition, since the gap between the ultrasonic vibrator 7 and the object to be cleaned 12 is very small, cleaning can be sufficiently performed with low-power ultrasonic waves. By designing to fit the size of 12,
There is an advantage that the moving distance of the object to be cleaned 12 can be reduced, and the cleaning time is shorter than in the conventional example.

In the above embodiment, the nozzle 14 is provided at one side of the ultrasonic generator 6 in order to supply the cleaning liquid under the ultrasonic vibrator 7 of the ultrasonic generator 6 having a long length. However, more nozzles may be provided, and FIG.
As shown in (2), the supply port 14a of the nozzle 14 may be made longer by the length of the ultrasonic wave generator 6.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention, 6 is an ultrasonic generator, 7 is an ultrasonic oscillator,
8 is an electrode lead wire, 9 is a connector, 10 is a cable, 1
Reference numeral 2 denotes an object to be cleaned, and since the configuration thereof is the same as that of the above-described embodiment, the description thereof will be omitted. .

In this embodiment constructed as described above, since the nozzle 15 is mounted on the ultrasonic wave generator 6, there is no need to support the nozzle as in the above-described embodiment.
Or one of the ultrasonic generator 6 may be moved.

[0012]

As described above, in the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus of the present invention, the cleaning liquid is held between the ultrasonic vibrator of the ultrasonic generator and the object to be cleaned in the minute gap, and the cleaning liquid is supplied from the nozzle to the minute gap. By supplying, the object to be cleaned is cleaned by irradiating the ultrasonic waves generated from the ultrasonic vibrator through the cleaning liquid held in the minute gap, so that only a small amount of the cleaning liquid is required,
There is an advantage that less power is required to be supplied to the ultrasonic vibrator and that the cleaning time is shorter.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the ultrasonic generator of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the ultrasonic generator of FIG.

FIG. 4 is another configuration diagram of the ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a conventional ultrasonic cleaning apparatus.

[Explanation of symbols]

 6 Ultrasonic generator 7 Ultrasonic transducer 8 Electrode lead wire 9 Connector 10 Cable 11 Ultrasonic oscillator 12 Object to be cleaned 13 Cleaning liquid supply device 14, 15 Nozzle

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Tomomi Hikita 20 Koyamazuka, Oiwa-cho, Toyohashi-shi, Aichi F-term in Honda Electronics Co., Ltd. (reference) 3B201 AA03 AB01 AB37 BB22 BB85 BB92 CB01

Claims (5)

[Claims] An ultrasonic transducer and an object to be cleaned are provided with a minute gap between them and supported. A cleaning liquid is supplied to the minute gap to irradiate the ultrasonic wave from the ultrasonic transducer to the object to be cleaned. Ultrasonic cleaning method characterized by cleaning by washing. 2. An ultrasonic generator having an ultrasonic vibrator mounted on one surface thereof, an object to be cleaned facing the surface of the ultrasonic generator on which the ultrasonic vibrator is provided with a small gap, An ultrasonic cleaning apparatus, wherein a nozzle for supplying a cleaning liquid between a cleaning object and the ultrasonic vibrator is provided on at least one side of the ultrasonic generator. 3. The ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the nozzle is mounted on both sides of the ultrasonic generator. 4. The ultrasonic cleaning apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the outlet of the nozzle is provided widely along a side portion of the ultrasonic generator. 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is provided with a supply port having a width corresponding to the length of the ultrasonic vibrator, and mounted near at least one side of the ultrasonic vibrator on the ultrasonic generator. The ultrasonic cleaning device according to claim 2.